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Greshies New Beginning

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#1 ·
Five years ago I started to lift weights, I was 53 years old and had just downshifted away from the rat race taking semi retirement, the slow and sometime faltering progress was chartered in my old journal 'Into the Deep End'. That journal is now closed.

Some of you will know I've had a sh1t year so far. I took on a temporary work contract that drained my energy and took away any work/life balance. During this time my Mum was declining rapidly and passed away two days into a week's holiday booked in March, so I didn't get a break. On returning to work things soon started to spiral downwards and eventually a couple of weeks ago I was signed off with depression. At that point I took a good hard look at my life, one morning I listed a series of headings... Job, Relationships, Social Life, Holidays. Hobbies, Training etc and marked them out of 100... a couple of the headings got zero... this focused my thoughts. I resigned the contract and decided to take several months off.

The old journal had run it's course. In it's time I have broken both wrists and lost a testicle (the two events are not connected). I have broadened out (in a good way) and gained strength and am fitter now than 5 years ago ( I have also gained several body piercings in the last two years too ;) ) . I'm never going to be a bodybuilder or power lifter but at least I can try to look as good as possible for as long as possible ... and lets face it there are seniors older than me out there who are competing and looking great for their years.

I have followed many different programs in the last 5 years and have the experience to create my own, but decided to follow a program from bodybuilding.com called Jim Stoppani's 12 week shortcut to size. In truth it is a program I tried to do before however it became too difficult with the demands of work, but I rather liked the concept that underpinned it.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/shortcut-to-size-training.html

The program is based around periodisation, in other words changing the training at specified points . To begin with you do light weights at high reps and as the program progresses the weights become heavier and the reps lower. The other element of this program is microcycles, where the weights and rep ranges are changed on a weekly basis. Traditional periodisation routines the same weight/rep ranges might last a month or more.

There will be four workouts a week lasting 12 weeks. Now this wont be a straight 12 weeks as I intend to take a break down south in June and unless I can find a decent pay as you go gym in the Caterham area wont be training whilst away. But I expect to finish by the middle of September when I have faithfully promised my best friends I will join them in the South of France on holiday.

Nutrition has always been hit and miss, more miss than hit actually. This is something else I shall focus on despite having to watch my expenditure whilst not working ...

The first session of this program begins tomorrow morning....

@Flubs @Mingster @Rykard @Dirk McQuickly @BestBefore1989 @Dai Jones and anyone else who wants to follow :)
 
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#14 ·
think i need to do this my self.

Good luck with the new program :)
It's a good thing to do @Dai Jones it helps you focus. Too often we are so immersed in the everyday that we lose sight of the bigger picture and the stuff that is important such as work/life balance and relationships.

I wish I had done this earlier because some of the results make uncomfortable reading, and some of the conclusions I've come to are drastic. It's really about being in control of your life and being assertive rather than just going with the flow or taking the easiest option.
 
#12 ·
Monday 9th May

Stoppani's Shortcut to Size

Week One Day One

Chest/Triceps/Calves

Bench press:- 1x12@30 w/u 1x12@40 1x15@45 1x15@50 1x11/4@55 rest/pause

Incline Wide Grip Bench Press:- 1x12@40 1x12@45 1x8/5 @50 rest/pause

Incline DB Flyes:- 1x15@11.8 1x12@14.3 1x12/6 @14.3 rest/pause

Flat DB Flyes:- 1x15@11.8 1x12@14.3 1x10/6 @ 14,3 rest/pause

Triceps Pushdown:- 1x15@20 1x15@25 1x15@30 1x12/6@ 35 rest/pause

Lying Triceps extension:- 1x12@19.3 1x13@19.3 1x13/5 @ 19.3 rest/pause

Decline EZ bar triceps Extensions:- 1x12@19.3 1x8@19.3 1x15@19.3 ... no rest pause too knackered

Calf raises:- 1x80/18 @ 38.2

Notes:- This knackered me! I've had to substitute a couple of exercises. I don't have cables. So Flat Flyes were done instead of cable crossovers and decline EZ bar tricep exts instead of cable overhead triceps exts. Found the rest/pause on the flyes difficult to achieve so paused when form started to go rather than at failure . Also failed on the decline triceps was running out of steam totally by that point. Didn't even feel the calf raises, rest/pause happened when I lost balance off the step.

At some point this week I need to look at the cable attachment on the cage, it's twisted so limits it's use.

Nutrition so far today has been a large slice of melon and a small shake (this was supposed to be on waking ... on waking all I want is a cup of tea , which I took back to bed with me!) This was followed by my usual pre-workout fix of oats/banana/whey/rocket fuel/milk all whizzed together with some creatine and BCAA added to the mix. I'm supposed to have Stoppani's version of this pre/during/post workout but i neck this down before and then drink water during to keep up hydration levels. Had a small shake afterwards with more creatine. Breakfat/brunch will be eggs mixed with low fat cheese. At some point I'll have some cottage cheese and pineapple, then dinner will be salmon and veg, with yet another shake before bed .... This is not quite the Stoppani plan as I've added a post w/o shake and skipped his tuna mayo lunch ... I'll try to get more in line with his plan over the next few days...

Once I have recovered sufficiently , today will be finishing clearing out the loft and taking the cr@p to the tip. Then this afternoon will be spent flaked out in my summerhouse ...

Next Session will be tomorrow ... back/biceps/Abs (I'm sure there is nothing wrong with the ABS on the Merc..... oh my Abs? ..oh don't know where those are! :whistling: :lol: )
 
#24 · (Edited by Moderator)
Tuesday 10th May

Stoppani's Shortcut to Size

Week One Day Two

Back/Biceps/abs

DB Bent Over Rows:- 1x12@6.8 wu 1x15@11.8 1x15@16.8 1x15@19.3 1x20/8 @ 21.8 rest/pause

Wide Grip Pulldowns:- 1x15@20 1x15@25 1x15@30 1x15@35 1x10/6 @ 40 rest/pause

Standing Pulldowns:- 1x15@@25 1x15@30 1x8/6 @ 35 rest/pause

Straight Arm Pulldowns:- 1x15@20 1x15@25 1x8/10 @30 rest/pause

BB Curls :- 1x15@30 1x15@35 1x12@40 1x10/6@45 rest/pause

DB Incline Curl:- 1x8@11.8 1x9@11.8 1x9/7@11.8 rest/Pause

Inner Bicep Curls:- 1x12@11.8 1x12@11.8 1x10/8 @ 11.8 rest/Pause

Hip Thrusts:- 20 20 20/6 r/p

Crunches:- 20 20 20/5 r/p

Oblique Crunches:- 10 10 15/8 r/p

Notes:- This was a disrupted session, postman called during the final set of the straight arm pulldowns with a special delivery letter containing Mum's grant of probate, so I had to 'phone Dad and then my Brother ... Dad (who is 90) was cleaning his windows ..... and my Bro was out walking his neighbour's dog and 'phoned back during the BB curls .....

I totally messed up the weights on the wide grip pulldowns starting far too light and had to do an extra two sets before reaching failure, the subsequent pulldown exercises became a law of diminishing returns as did the curls. As I don't have a cable , high cable curls were changed to Inner bicep curls. The incline curls were a little awkward as the preacher attachment on my bench got in the way so I'm thinking about swopping these for preachers...

And as for the Abs exercises lol ... the Hip thrusts were fine, but the crunches and obliques ...oh dear ... a lot of work is required on those, I could hardly get my torso off the floor!

Was reading Trained by JP's blog yesterday, he was talking about training lagging areas, of which my upper legs are a prime example ... he says train these areas more than once a week... I shan't do anything this week and I don't particularly want to interfere with the Stoppani program but JP does have a point so I'm thinking of adding leg extensions and lying leg curls in somewhere ... possibly on a rest day ... the only other day would be shoulders/traps/calves as this is the shortest routine but that is the day before legs so may not be such a good idea.

I'm also having to think about getting some heavier plates for my Dumbbells, the max I've got are 5kg, and I need to get some 7.5kg and 10kg plates ....

Yesterdays food included scrambled eggs with low fat cheese, cottage cheese mixed with pineapple ( I actually quite like that combo) half a peanut butter sandwich and a shake, then for dinner cold chicken with cooked vegetables mixed with salad , the vegetables were overcooked and not nice. Then before bed a shake with peanut butter added. I'm mixing protein powder with Milk which Stoppani doesn't specify but then that will counteract the fact that I'm skipping lunch... ( I hope) when I get my act together I will start tracking everything on myfitnesspal again.

After showering I need to get the grant of probate stuff sent down to Dad, then tidy the house, I've a potential cat sitter coming to visit later, she charges £7.00 a visit which is almost half the price of the cattery and will disrupt the cats less. I'm hoping to go down south from the 3rd of June to the 14th Jun, and have been given details of a gym in Caterham-on-the-Hill , just need to check they do payasyougo....

Thanks for reading all my waffle and hope you all have a good day ;)

ps next session Thursday ... the day SGN come to dig up my front garden to reconnect me to the gas main... so not quite sure when training will happen
 
#25 ·
Tuesday 10th May

Stoppani's Shortcut to Size

Week One Day Two

Back/Biceps/abs

DB Bent Over Rows:- 1x12@6.8 wu 1x15@11.8 1x15@16.8 1x15@19.3 1x20/8 @ 21.8 rest/pause

Wide Grip Pulldowns:- 1x15@20 1x15@25 1x15@30 1x15@35 1x10/6 @ 40 rest/pause

Standing Pulldowns:- 1x15@@25 1x15@30 1x8/6 @ 35 rest/pause

Straight Arm Pulldowns:- 1x15@20 1x15@25 1x8/10 @30 rest/pause

BB Curls :- 1x15@30 1x15@35 1x12@40 1x10/6@45 rest/pause

DB Incline Curl:- 1x8@11.8 1x9@11.8 1x9/7@11.8 rest/Pause

Inner Bicep Curls:- 1x12@11.8 1x12@11.8 1x10/8 @ 11.8 rest/Pause

Hip Thrusts:- 20 20 20/6 r/p

Crunches:- 20 20 20/5 r/p

Oblique Crunches:- 10 10 15/8 r/p

Notes:- This was a disrupted session, postman called during the final set of the straight arm pulldowns with a special delivery letter containing Mum's grant of probate, so I had to 'phone Dad and then my Brother ... Dad (who is 90) was cleaning his windows ..... and my Bro was out walking his neighbour's dog and 'phoned back during the BB curls .....

I totally messed up the weights on the wide grip pulldowns starting far too light and had to do an extra two sets before reaching failure, the subsequent pulldown exercises became a law of diminishing returns as did the curls. As I don't have a cable , high cable curls were changed to Inner bicep curls. The incline curls were a little awkward as the preacher attachment on my bench got in the way so I'm thinking about swopping these for preachers...

And as for the Abs exercises lol ... the Hip thrusts were fine, but the crunches and obliques ...oh dear ... a lot of work is required on those, I could hardly get my torso off the floor!

Was reading Trained by JP's blog yesterday, he was talking about training lagging areas, of which my upper legs are a prime example ... he says train these areas more than once a week... I shan't do anything this week and I don't particularly want to interfere with the Stoppani program but JP does have a point so I'm thinking of adding leg extensions and lying leg curls in somewhere ... possibly on a rest day ... the only other day would be shoulders/traps/calves as this is the shortest routine but that is the day before legs so may not be such a good idea.

I'm also having to think about getting some heavier plates for my Dumbbells, the max I've got are 5kg, and I need to get some 7.5kg and 10kg plates ....

Yesterdays food included scrambled eggs with low fat cheese, cottage cheese mixed with pineapple ( I actually quite like that combo) half a peanut butter sandwich and a shake, then for dinner cold chicken with cooked vegetables mixed with salad , the vegetables were overcooked and not nice. Then before bed a shake with peanut butter added. I'm mixing protein powder with Milk which Stoppani doesn't specify but then that will counteract the fact that I'm skipping lunch... ( I hope) when I get my act together I will start tracking everything on myfitnesspal again.

After showering I need to get the grant of probate stuff sent down to Dad, then tidy the house, I've a potential cat sitter coming to visit later, she charges £7.00 a visit which is almost half the price of the cattery and will disrupt the cats less. I'm hoping to go down south from the 3rd of June to the 14th Jun, and have been given details of a gym in Caterham-on-the-Hill , just need to check they do payasyougo....

Thanks for reading all my waffle and hope you all have a good day ;)

ps next session Thursday ... the day SGN come to dig up my front garden to reconnect me to the gas main... so not quite sure when training will happen
Good lord man!

Your only on day 2 of a 12 week program and already your considering changing it!

IMO you need to commit to the program, you picked it because it made sense to you and many others have enjoyed results from it.

Its only 12 weeks mate. Stick with it, change as little as possible and judge your results on where you are in 12 weeks time. Then If you still want to train legs twice a week, go for it.
 
#27 ·
I do think four days is enough Ian. You have to just take a little step back to ensure your training future. The rest of the time you will be training your heart and your mind, and part of that is eating well, stopping to play with the kitties for a bit, contemplating your navel etc. Small steps right?

i don't care if you think I'm talking codswallop, it's what I think and I was nearer to you I'd be storming round with food, free hugs and would prolly dump myself in your conservatory and talk you into a comotose sleep within moments.. :lol: ....hurrr hurrr......xx
 
#32 ·
I do think four days is enough Ian. You have to just take a little step back to ensure your training future. The rest of the time you will be training your heart and your mind, and part of that is eating well, stopping to play with the kitties for a bit, contemplating your navel etc. Small steps right?

i don't care if you think I'm talking codswallop, it's what I think and I was nearer to you I'd be storming round with food, free hugs and would prolly dump myself in your conservatory and talk you into a comotose sleep within moments.. :lol: ....hurrr hurrr......xx
Yes I think you are correct, and although I'm not quite ready for meals on wheels yet, have to confess @Flubs catering services would be appreciated :) :thumbup1:
 
#33 · (Edited by Moderator)
Thursday 12th May

Stoppani's Shortcut to Size

Week One Day Three

Shoulders/Traps/Calves

DB Shoulder raise:- 1x12@6.8 w/u 1x15@9.3 1x15@10.3 1x15@11.8 1x11/3 @ 12.8 rp

DB Lat Raises:- 1x15@6.8 1x15@6.8 1x12/4 @7.8 rp

Alternate Front raises:- 1x15@6.8 1x15@6.8 1x18/6 @7.8 rp

Side Lat to Front raise:- 1x5@6.8 1x3@6.8 1x3/2 @6.8 rp

DB Shrugs:- 1x15@11.8 1x15@14.3 1x15@16.8 1x28/15@19.3 rp

Calf Raises:- 1x80/18 @38.6

Notes:- This might be the shortest of the sessions but I was jiggered by the end of it, but even though I had a good night's sleep was tired this morning.

Two cable exercises had to be replaced, so I chose Front Raises and then Side Lat to Front Raise. The former were fine but the Side Lats to Fronts OMG ; easy in principle and a good range of movement but as soon as I picked up a dumbbell everything went pear shaped

This is how they should be done

http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/detail/view/name/side-laterals-to-front-raise-

Possibly I was 'raised out' by that point but I struggled to get the DB's up parallel let alone front and down!

The DB shrugs were a disaster, far too light as can be seen by how far I had to go on the last set, and even then it was more running out of steam rather than proper failure. 2xsets of standard 10kg plates arrived this morning so next time I'm going to use the EZ bar and the new plates for these.

SGN are delayed by one day so will be starting to install the new gas supply tomorrow, though I have a drive full of stuff they dropped off yesterday. Still wondering which part of the front they will eventually decide to lay the pipe across... my betting is they are going to persuade me the simplest route will be to dig up some of the block paving.... to avoid tree roots in the only part of the garden that stretches across to the front of the bungalow you understand... we shall see.

Diet has more or less been following Stoppani's plan, though still need to get my act together and start tracking on myfitnesspal

Another lovely day here, though breezy, washing done overnight and out on the line. Not sure what I shall get up to, I do need a few plug plants so might take a trip to the garden centre ....

Thanks for reading and have a good day :)
 
#37 · (Edited by Moderator)
Friday 13th May

Stoppani's Shortcut to Size

Week One Day Four

Legs/ABS

Squats:- 1x12@50 w/u 1x12@60 1x12@70 1x12@80 1x14/8@90 r/p

Lunges:- 2x12@38.6 1x10/5 @38.6 r/p

Leg Extensions:- 1x15@@30 1x15@35 1x10/8@40 r/p

Deads:- 1x12@50 1x12@60 1x12@70 1x10/5@80 r/p

Lying Leg Curl:- 1x15@25 1x15@30 1x9/10/5 @35 r/p

Hip Thrust:- 1x20 1x15 1x9/5 r/p

Crunch:- 1x15 1x10 1x10/4 r/p

Planks:- 1x25secs 1x35secs 1x35/15 secs r/p

Notes :- Slightly cooler this morning and cloudy. SGN turned up at 8am and are now busily digging holes everywhere... thankfully they are going to leave the block paved drive alone.

Any thoughts of adding an extra legs session to the routine vanished within minutes ... I varied leg position on the squats going wider than normal. Did lunges instead of leg press. Went lighter on the deads than anticipated as was running out of steam. The various ABS exercises were torture.... supposed to do a minute on each set of planks and 20-30 reps on the others ... Stoppani is 'aving a laugh!

Week two starts on Monday ... higher weights lower rep ranges but still going to rest pause on the last sets

Other than food shopping nothing planned for today, have a list of jobs to do but need to recover from this little lot first off!

Thanks for reading and have a good day ;)
 
#38 · (Edited by Moderator)
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The nutrition plan includes cooked oats ... On training days I cheat and put them in the pre-workout shake ... on rest days I can't believe I'm eating porridge.... !

Oh and I'm now reconnected to the gas main, well not me personally, but the bungalow is...... with next to no damage to the front garden ... can't say the same for the pavement though :lol:
 

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#39 ·
Monday 16th May

Stoppani's Shortcut to Size

Week two Day One

Chest/triceps/calves

Bench Press:- 1x9@35 w/u 1x11'45 1x11@50 1x11@55 1x12/4@60 r/p

Incline Bench press:- 1x11@45 1x11'50 1x12/4@55 r/p

Incline DB Flyes:- 1x11@11.8 1x11@14.3 1x13/5@16.8 r/p

Flat DB Flyes:- 1x11@11.8 1x11@14.3 1x15/3 @ 16.8 r/p

Triceps Pushdowns:- 1x11@25 1x11@30 1x11@32.5 1x15/3 @ 35 r/p

Lying Tricep Extensions:- 2 x11 1/9/5 @ 24.3 r/p

Decline Ez Bar Tricep ext:- 1x11 1x10 1x10/3 @ 24.3 r/p

Calf raises:- 1x70/11 @ 38.2

Notes:- How the hell this took nearly two hours I've no idea, Stoppani reckons it should take 90 mins so I suppose an extra 30mins for old git faffing. Weights upped as the reps are lowered. Messed up on the Tricep pushdowns as the last set should have been 37.5 but maths was never my strong point. Used my new 10kg plates on the tricep extensions though can't remember the exact weight of the EZ bar....

had a good result with some creatine bombs, I found some on Ebay for less than £6.00 a tub of 50 ... far cheaper than most of the supplement companies.. and well within date too... they arrived this morning having been ordered on Friday ... from some Combat shop ... Stoppani's post workout fix includes creatine and a shot of dextrose or 30 gummy bears .... since I couldn't find gummy bears in bulk , the creatine bombs do the trick...

The hole in the pavement outside was filled in first thing this morning so now just needs resurfacing. Have to say Scottish Gas Network have been very efficient .. Unlike Scottish Power. My 3 phase meter is to be replaced with a single phase on Wednesday which motivates me to finish off sorting out the garage, and I need to chase the installation of the gas meter as well as the dates the CH is due to be installed next week; floorboards need to be lifted to access the sub space and I can see exactly what the two cats will get up to :rolleyes: , so they need to be bundled off to the cattery for a few days !

Lovely morning has now clouded over but at least i wont be tempted to squander the afternoon lazing in the summerhouse ....

Thanks for reading and have a good start to the week ! :)
 
#41 · (Edited by Moderator)
My workouts always take longer than planned.

I think its working out in a home gym. Sometimes I've not even finished changing the weight on the bar when the timer goes off to start the next set.
Thats true actually I spent 5 minutes trying to find a wafer plate for the flyes - had three couldn't find the fourth ... gave up in the end ... and yes changing plates etc does take time ... but I still faff lol
 
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